NASCAR team owner Jeff Dickerson itched for a return to his short-track racing roots. Giovanni Scelzi sought a fresh change of scenery. Successful crew chief Eric Prutzman was available for hire. Chili’s was ready to take its corporate eatery dirt racing.

So when Jason Meyers Racing put its High Roller Club on the market — the performance-based Kubota High Limit Racing membership that guarantees long-term tour participation and financial benefits earned by 10 teams from the 2024-25 season — the move became a no-brainer.

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Everything that goes into assembling a full-fledged Sprint Car program from scratch aligned seamlessly for Spire Motorsports, which on Thursday at the PRI Trade Show in Indianapolis announced that it’ll campaign on the third-year High Limit tour beginning in 2026.

“It was made at the right time, you know, with what Brad (Sweet) and Kyle (Larson) have done with the charter system and the High Limit deal,” Dickerson told FloRacing. “Certainly we have lots of experience on the charter stuff in the NASCAR world. … So it was timing, obviously, and you have the charter system, you had Jason Meyers wanting to do something different.

“When all those things kind of come together, sometimes these decisions get made for you, right?”

That’s not to mention that Dickerson, the USAC Midget mechanic-turned Cup Series co-owner, brings established relationships to the table, including his longtime connection with Kyle Larson and Kendra Jacobs.

Dickerson served as Larson’s agent and manager when the driver transitioned from dirt racing to NASCAR, helping the eventual two-time Cup champ sign his first development deal with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2013 through his Spire Sports + Entertainment that he co-founded in '10.

Jacobs, meanwhile, worked as Knoxville Raceway marketing director when Spire managed the track’s operations.

“I think with what Brad and Kyle are doing and with the amount of transparency that they show, obviously, I've got longstanding relationships with both of them. Add in J.P. (Josh Peterman) and Kendra and a lot of people around High Limit and, you know, we want to go racing with our friends. … You just want to do it with people that you enjoy being with. That's certainly the High Limit series.”

Dickerson wholeheartedly believes in High Limit’s vision, too, especially the High Roller Club that’ll take effect in 2026. According to industry sources, Dickerson purchased the series membership card from Meyers for more than $400,000.

With a $260,000 value during the 2026 season and that number only increasing in the years to come, Meyers earned the sixth membership card of the 10 awarded to the top-10 teams in the High Limit standings from the 2024-25 seasons.

Dickerson was one of the first NASCAR team owners to acquire a Cup charter, too, which has similarities to High Roller Club memberships. Two years after NASCAR instituted the Cup charter system in 2016, Dickerson’s Spire team bought Furniture Row’s charter for $6 million.

When Stewart-Haas Racing sold three charters between Front Row Motorsports, 23XI Racing and Trackhouse Racing, they went for a combined $84 million. Sprint Car racing won’t ever rival those lofty financials, but Dickerson is convinced he can add value to the discipline in similar fashion.

“Brad has been exposed to what's good and what's bad in this sport. I think that all those experiences, you know, led him to a place where it was no more time for words. It was time for action,” Dickerson said. “When they come up with something like a charter system, which again, that's what skyrocketed our company from being an agency to obviously where we're at today, was the NASCAR charter system.

“I feel like we can bring our expertise and our experience to help grow High Limit. Having the opportunity to be on the ground floor of something and doing it with our friends, both at High Limit and the guys at Clauson-Marshall Racing, (which Spire has sponsored in recent seasons). And a lot of our friends that are in that pit area. It kind of makes it a no-brainer at the end of the day.”

Dickerson added that “there's no games” with the High Limit management that “you feel like you're getting a straight shot every time, so that makes it a lot easier to make decisions.”

“The way that High Limit does it, or at least my experience with High Limit, is you feel like you're part of the decision making process,” Dickerson said. “You feel like you have a seat at the table.

"I think those are the things that when you're talking about the charter system and that transparency and everybody feeling like they get a seat at the table.

“We're all pulling in the same direction. We're all trying to do something good for the sport and for each other. And those two things don't have to be exclusive to each other. You can be good stewards of the sport and do something good for yourself at the same time. That's, I think, what High Limit's done.”

For the 24-year-old Scelzi, the tour allows him to reset after an offbeat season in which he departed KCP Racing on July 16 during Kings Royal week at Eldora Speedway and eventually finished out the High Limit season for the injured Tyler Courtney with Clauson-Marshall Racing.

“It’s cool with High Limit you get to run all the (World of ) Outlaw shows you want to run, whether it’s Volusia, Knoxville, Kings Royal, World Finals, those big events, you’re still free to run — as well as High Limit going to new racetracks,” Scelzi said on what’s most excited about joining the full-time High Limit roster. “I had never been to Texas Motor Speedway before, I never been to Path Valley (Speedway Park in Pennsylvania). There’s a lot of new racetracks they’re going to that I’ve never been to.

“High Limit is the real deal, the money that they’re putting up and the races they’re going to, and how they’re organizing their race is definitely inviting to me. How quick they get their shows done with Mike Hess being the race director and series director is a key, in my opinion.”

Dickerson sees Scelzi as a driver with “a lot to prove and that’s something I don’t want to dismiss.”

“We think that by putting him with Eric Prutzman and immersing himself in our culture that we’ll be able to extract the most out of him. … We’re certainly only doing this to win,” he added. “I just think that we give him the right tools and the right support that his ability and talent will shine through.”

From staff alone, Dickerson emphasizes just how serious his Spire team will handle its dirt operation. Of the 170-some staffers at Spire Motorsports, roughly a quarter of them have a dirt racing background of some kind.

The hiring of Prutzman, a five-time national champion at Kasey Kahne Racing with Sweet, solidifies Spire’s fledgling Sprint Car operation, giving them a foundation that’s firm to build upon and potentially win championships in the years to come.

“This is a big business. This is a real business. We are not just quote-unquote dirt racing,” Dickerson said. “The High Limit series is the majors, you know what I mean? Like your NASCAR is the majors. It’s, what is the top of your discipline? Obviously if you’re in Sprint Cars, you want to be in High Limit. In stock cars, you want to be in NASCAR. It’s the level of professionalism, it’s the quality of the drivers. When you’re at the top, you’re at the top.”